Poor Reindeer Games
by dynamitelass360
Summary: Tony wonders why he feels sorry for Loki. Loki just feels sorry for himself.
1. Chapter 1

He lay there, uncertain as to how he should proceed. Had he just been squashed and smashed as easily as an ant? Could these meager Midgardian mortals dare to raise a hand to a God? How could that behemoth lay a hand on him? Mostly it was shock that kept Loki lying there in the crater in Stark Towers.

But, he realized, slowly with trepidation, that he was actually hurt and that the wounds were not going to heal quickly. There was a quick bolt of white hot pain that spread through his body and Loki recalled his torture at the hands of the Chitauri, but no, that and this could hardly compare to what he saw and what he felt and what horrible burning pain his mind went through falling in the Yggdrasil.

Nothing compared to that. He felt a bit insane, a bit screwed up and screwed over, and completely broken. The tears were almost coming and the humiliation of being driven to them made him see red. Not even that feeling of utter defeat was worse than his madness.

Nothing was worse than his madness and all the pain he had long endured. It was bound to happen eventually, the fragile thread of sanity was destined to snap and give way to the monster that Loki really was.

It felt so right to just become the villain, to give into his real nature, to reach out and embrace his heritage. His true nature lay in darkness and lies, in cold and fear. He really was wicked and deadly. He was really a monster, a beast, not so different he supposed than the one who had slammed him into the floor.

He was far different from Thor and it was just so obvious that he never really belonged to Asgard, that he was never really an Asgardian.

He is so much more than an Asgardian.

So much more.

Curse his once elder brother and this damn mud-ball he loves so much. One day, Loki knew he would destroy this place and everything Thor loves and make him watch and suffer as everything burns around him. He would make Thor watch as he killed and tortured that woman, cut her apart, ripped out her lungs, opening up her soft flesh and letting the blood flow in an orgy of violence, he hoped Thor would scream, Loki would laugh.

Oh, how he would take pleasure in that.

It should be him on the throne with humanity kneeling and pleading before him. Not Loki lying here on the ground of the wrecked tower.

* * *

He was taken to another glass enclosure. A new prison at a new location. He still hurt and his injuries were still healing, but the boredom was beginning to get to him.

"Hey, reindeer games without the reindeer." Tony Stark said cheerfully as a greeting. Loki did not bother to acknowledge the presence of said annoying mortal.

"I just wanted to let you know that you're definitely not getting that drink anytime soon. FYI, you're not getting anything for a while. Except, another cell, maybe."

Loki spared Tony a withering glance. "What do you want?" he asked tensely, blue eyes still locked in the opposite direction.

"To gloat. And maybe threaten again." Tony quipped.

"Threaten?" Loki looked at him, eyes ice cold. "Threaten me with what Man of Iron? What could you possibly do to me now?"

"Oh, plenty of things." Tony shot back. "Use you as a lab rat. Execute you. Or better yet, give you to the Chitauri."

Loki shrank back in his cell.

"Yeah, I thought you guys wouldn't be on great terms, since you lost their whole war and got their army blown up."

"Th-That was you." Loki blustered.

"Yeah, but you were kinda the leader of them."

"Ha! I was hardly their leader." Loki began to frantically pace. Tony turned his head to the side.

"So, you do admit there was someone bigger behind this?"

"_**No. **_I admit nothing." Loki spat back angrily. Tony only smirked in a 'you are a dumbass' way.

"You better start, uh, giving us something or we will throw you to the super pissed off aliens."

That was when something snapped behind Loki's dead, ice blue eyes and he phased through the glass like it was water and put his face close to Tony's.

Tony could hear the yelling of his teammates and their frantic rush to get to him in the com in his ear.

"My brother won't allow it." Loki hissed, he was close, but not touching.

Then, Tony saw something that gave him pause, a flicker of of doubt shone through Loki's madness. He'd never say it, but Loki was scared. Loki was scared that Thor would'nt care about Loki's fate and that he wouldn't rescue him. Loki was backing away from Tony, eyes widening.

"I mean, he is not my brother." Loki's mistake had dawned on him. He still thought of Thor as his brother. He would say that he loathed Thor to the end of his days, but somewhere in him, deep, deeeeep, down he cared for him.

Despite himself, and despite all the people Loki had killed, Tony pitied him. Lonely, egomaniac, crazy diva that he was. He pitied how emotionally distraught and desperate Loki was, he pitied the way that tears had formed in Lokis eyes and how they were clinging to his lashes. As Thor and the other Avengers rushed in and subdued him and Thor forcibly put Loki in restraints, Tony pitied him.

He pitied that poor, puny God.


	2. Not For Better

Thanks for the reviews! :D Feel free to critique or tell me if I make them OOC or something.

* * *

Before the invasion Loki would dream and wait as a silent predator. However, Loki's dreams had transformed into nightmares, somewhere along the way, and they had been that way for a long time now.

They were not nightmares of the invasion failing or anything of the sort. Even afterwards, in his cell, gagged and restrained with his magic done, his nightmares were not of the failure of his Midgard domination, but of things he dreamed while he still believed himself a son of Odin.

But, the true nightmares had come into fruition in the vastness of space. His anger and burning resentment rekindled by the Chitauri's torture and his increasing insanity and the mounting intensity of each nightmare was driven to a cacophony on Midgard.

Now, it was all over, his madness was ebbing, his nightmares almost fading, like the calm after a storm. It was such a fierce wrath that had burnt inside him, and it still lingered, but now it was just dying embers instead of a forest fire. They were capable of being stoked again to finally burn Thor and everything precious he holds dear.

It was true that he had chosen this life and through the practice of a simple act of choice he had to deal with the many repercussions that naturally came with trying to take over a world and trying to destroy a major city. His increased riddles and lies were just seen as a natural consequence of his new career choice and his new path was now carved out in the blood and bones of the mortals he had killed.

For the God of Mischief and Deceit had nothing to fear any longer, he had no fear of the coming of Raganarok, now he would gladly follow the path that fate had laid out for him. Loki would destroy Asgard in a final end game War.

It was no longer his home, it no longer held any emotional attachment, he was too far gone to care anymore. He had always been bound, bound to Asgard by Odin, bound by a sense of loyalty, by love. It was horribly, painfully, hilariously, evident that all of it was lies, that not even Loki, the one who was constantly accused of lying saw through.

All his life, all his work, and all he did signified nothing. Absolutely nothing. Loki was trapped as a game animal in a snare. He was forced down a path of oblivion.

It was nothing less than a cruel deceit that was perpetrated on him by the Allfather, and what did Odin suffer from thousands of years of hiding that dirty little secret? He merely went into Odinsleep, and let Loki fall. What justice is there?

To prove himself Loki had tried (_He had tried and tried..) _to be like Thor. To be the better sibling. He would be the one who lead others and the one whom everyone loved.

His mind was constantly overloaded with sharp pain and shrill screams. He could hardly sleep. He had just wanted it all to end, why hadn't it? (_Let me go, let me die, it's what you want, isn't it? Isn't it father? Isn't it brother? I am finally dead and gone, the accursed heritage of Laufey is gone. His blood line gone. I will kill myself rather than bring any shame or disgrace upon the house of Odin. NOW, Hate Me, Brother, for I HATE YOU. I have for so long, living in your shadow.) _

Loki was falling drowning in darkness. The weight was pushing down on him, dragging him under into the sweet embrace of death. The stars, he realized, were so much brighter than before. It was no more suffering no more pain. He'd be forever free….Then, he awoke, coughing and choking, for he had not been killed by the mortals, and he checked, yes, still alive, a pity, what a shame.

For only fools would think that they could keep him chained and silenced. Only fools would believe that sending him to Asgard with Thor would end all their troubles.

He would be back, and he recalled a conversation he had with the one known as Hawkeye while the man was under his control.

_"__Why is suicide so hard? Why, Thor used to joke about my death all the time, whenever Lady Sif would best me in a bout, he would say 'you might as well kill yourself if you can't improve.'" Loki had mused out loud. _

_Hawkeye had been close enough to hear and wondered if the morbid statement required a comment._

_Still, he was here to follow Loki's orders and decided he should at least talk to him._

_So, Agent Barton looked at his boss with concern with empathy, and thought over his words. "I understand sir, if you really want to kill yourself, if that's what you really want, no one's stopping you."_

_Loki had just smiled pleasantly, "Well, that's the problem, I can't die now. No matter how much I want to."_

That was the problem, he could'nt be selfish anymore. There was revenge that he had to serve to the worlds that had wronged him.

* * *

It was funny, Tony Stark mused, how daddy issues, years of resntment and neglect, and a meglomaniac attitude could turn into the bag of cats that Loki was. Though, the body count was anything but funny. He wasn't real concerned, but still, he wondered what Loki's sentence would be on Asgard. He had this horrible feeling, that in no time at all, Loki would be back and deadlier than before. That would suck. But, there was nothing to be done about it. Except, upgrade his armor and maybe not get drunk all the time. Maybe.

Still, as he watched Thor take Loki back to Asgard and even though he seemed defeated and submissive. There was definetely a 'I'll be back, bitches' look in his eyes, that faded quickly as he took the Tesseract.

Loki would always be a problem, sure, but at least he was out of their hair for the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

_"Now Loki comes, cause of all ill!_

_Men and Aesir curse him still._

_Long shall the gods deplore,_

_Even till Time be o'er,_

_His base fraud on Asgard's hill."_

**Valhalla (J.C. Jones).**

* * *

This soldier, the man out of time, was making it far too easy for Loki to beat him up. He knew he had to get captured eventually, but it was just too easy to fling him and that ridiculous shield down. And would Loki have to be the one to tell Captain America that his outfit was gaudy and completely outlandish? When, suddenly a strange mortal, loud, song played around him, and he heard the sound of thrusters. Then, there was a flash of light and energy and Loki was flying backwards, and landed hard against the stone steps.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games." Iron Man had stepped forward bristling with all kinds of technological weapons.

Loki almost laughed, but he did his best to look absolutely intimidated by the mortal in a suit of armor. He sat up and put his hands up and dissolved his Asgardian attire, transforming it into still regal, yet more functional and a little less menacing clothes.

"Good move." commented Iron Man. He put down his hands and the weapons dropped back into his armor. _Bad move._ Loki thought, if he wanted to escape he could have. If he wanted to kill them, he could have. It would have been so easy, far too easy for his taste. He had yet to play with them. Mess with their fragile psyches and render them incapable of stopping him. The beast he needed to unleash was wherever they would take him. They had only themselves to blame for giving him the opportunity. After all, they had found and brought the monster.

Meanwhile, it appeared that Tony Stark and Rogers were having their very first meeting. "Captain." Stark said. "Mr. Stark." Rogers responded.

The large, black, helicopter landed there in front of the opera house, and the soldier and Stark marched him into it.

Loki knows who the woman is who is in the helicopter, Agent Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow. Barton, Hawkeye, has told him so many things about her. Wonderful things, and absolutely delicious secrets. These humans, pitiful creatures that they are, are capable of so much violence and horrific murder, but they always think that they can change their fate. They think that they can become a better person by pretending to repent.

_("And you think that saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?")_

Agent Romanoff was radioing in to Nick Fury, "We've got him."

"He saying anything yet?" Fury asked.

"Not a word." Romanoff responded.

"Just get him back here." Fury ordered. "We're running low on time."

"I don't like this." Captain America turned to Iron Man, "It's never been this easy."

"What? Rock of ages giving up so quickly?" Stark shot back.

Loki smiles inwardly, _now they finally realize that something is amiss? Poor, sad, tiny mortals. Poor, little ants._

Once again, it would be very easy to simply destroy them, right here, and they would never even have a chance to save this pathetic planet or form their wretched team. Rogers and Stark were obviously in an argument right then, the entire team couldn't work together, they never had a chance and most of them can't even put aside their egos.

Thunder boomed in the sky and lightning flashed across dark clouds. A tempest roared about them, high up in the air. A storm was brewing. Loki stiffened, his brother was coming here, fast and soon.

He sat up, wide eyed.

"What's wrong? You afraid of a little lightning?" Captain America asked, turning to look back at Loki.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki said pleasantly. Really, he was not at all fond of what was about to happen. And he could see this coming from leagues away.

There was a loud thud of something landing on top of the helicopter, Iron Man opened up the carrier ("What are you doing?" Rogers was asking), and immediately, Thor landed and Loki processed his rage in his eyes as Thor slammed back Iron Man and grabbed Loki by his neck, whisking him off into the stormy, dark sky.

* * *

Really, it was all sentiment.

All of it.

He knew what Thor longed for, he longed for bright, happy days that never really existed. Days that were no more real than the illusions Loki created.

"I remember a shadow." He had told Thor.

Decades and centuries of living in Thor's shadow had slowly changed Loki into this, at least partially. But, it had been that one being in space who had showed him real power.

* * *

It had felt like he had fallen for more than ten of his lifetimes. All the nine realms could have burned and Loki had this horrible feeling that he would have never known and he would have kept falling until all the worlds had turned to dust. It had been so cold and so dark. He wasn't even aware he had stopped falling for a brief reprieve. His clothes in tatters and his face gaunt and his eyes sunken in, Loki looked like what he was: an exile.

Wherever he was, he was surrounded by stars and they glittered all around him, blinded by their brilliance, the being turned and faced Loki. It turned and looked at him. That emotion that he had not felt in a while came rushing up, cold fear and terror of something very old and very malevolent. It examined him, like a bug collector looking at an mildly interesting specimen, and it finally determined that Loki had some worth. But, what did he care? If this monster wanted to kill him, he would not bother trying to stop him. It would be a monster killing another monster, and that is just poetic justice.

"I have a plan, Asgardian." It spoke in an ancient tongue, but still in an understandable one.

"Will you help?" It sneered at him. Loki had doubted he had a choice, but angering this beast, he supposed, could be his last defiant act.

"I will do nothing for you, foul creature." His voice was small, cracked, and hoarse after such a long disuse. It was more of a whisper, really.

It smiled.

And Loki burned. It was agony and so much of it all at once, it tore the breath out of him, and he just wanted it to stop. This thing was torturing him into madness and he was sure that his skin was being peeled away, slowly and it was just too much to bear.

It ended.

Loki's breaths came in heaving gasps.

"I will give you power and the Earth will be yours to conquer."

Loki tasted blood in his mouth, he had bitten his tongue.

"What makes you think I want the Earth? I don't want anything from you, either. You might as well kill me."

The monster bent down and seized his throat in a vise grip. With the other hand, he touched Loki's chest at the point where his heart was.

Things began to slide in and out of focus. Colors blended together and bright blue and red hues swam around the edge of his vision. Loki's eyes were filled with visions of the Tesseract, and he knew his glorious purpose.

"And I will kill you, in due time." His master promised him.

"Thank you. I am indebted to you." Loki bowed low.

"Now, you will join the Chitauri, you will tell no one but them of my presence, now leave, would-be King."

Loki bowed again and left the realm of Thanos.


	4. Chapter 4

Of course, Loki escaped Asgard. And he did it rather easily and quickly. He led Thor to believe that he had seen the errors of his ways and that he wanted nothing more than reconciliation and that he was ready to help all the realms.

Soon, his magic binders were gone, but he was still watched by a guard. "Are you afraid of me?" Loki had asked the guard. The guard turned to him, his spear at Loki's throat.

The clone vanished. Loki stood behind the man and slit his throat from ear to ear. Dark, sticky, warm blood poured on the immaculate gold floors. Still, Asgardians were not easy to kill and the guard clung to life, choking as blood poured out of him.

Loki knelt down to where the guard lay, his knife trailed slowly up to the mans chest. Loki kissed him, and whispered "You should be." as he stabbed him again and again for good measure. Loki gathered the wet, slippery organs and prepared to leave, but not without leaving Thor a present first.

* * *

After the destruction he caused on New York city and the people he had killed, Loki would have assumed that the humans would have banded against him. All of them surely hated him and probably would have demanded a painful death for the orchestration of the alien invasion.

But, much like homegrown terrorists, there were those that sided with him. Once, he began to become a so called super villain, a familiar face fighting the heroes, and once everyone realized it was him who had killed over eighty people, he began to get fans.

It was much like some serial killers, people were fascinated by Loki, by this living breathing God before them. Especially the women. Soon, death tolls in his fights against any of the Avengers began to rise because women civies were throwing themselves into his line of fire trying to get close. They were attracted to him, like moths to a flame. Every time they got injured or killed, by Loki or even one of the Avengers, they still kept coming.

* * *

It was fun.

He wanted more.

* * *

"Tony," it was Nick Fury.

"Yeah?"

"We've got a problem." Fury said.

"A big, world destroying problem or a little cat-stuck-in-a-tree problem? Because I really want to go back to sleep."

"It's way worse than that."

"A big problem?"

"You could say that."

"Aw, crap."

Tony Stark got out of bed, which strangely was not being shared by anyone that night. (Pepper was filling in for him on a business trip. Too many super villains kept using NY as their personal playground. He was needed here.)

Director Fury began sending the specs. Something large and green was trampling cars and destroying buildings. A large roar filled the air.

Tony looked at the video in disbelief. "No."

"Unfortunately, it's exactly what it looks like. Hulk is in NY and ripping it apart."

"No. Bruce was working on a kind of sedative. He's on it everyday. This can't be happening."

"It is. And intel's coming of unconfirmed reports that he has so far killed at least 15

people and four of them are children."

"Unconfirmed, right?"

"Do you want to make them confirmed, or are you going to get down there?"

"I'm on my way."

"I've got Cap, Romanoff, Barton and Thor there in 20. Fury out."

Tony headed to his armory. He walked quickly into it, past the designs for a suit that would bond on a molecular level into his cells, making it easier to suit up faster.

The Iron Man armor was booting up when something went horribly wrong. An explosion of light and smoke, Tony was thrown against a wall by the force of it.

He crashed on the floor and gasped, looking up at a man he thought was gone for good.

"Loki."


End file.
